Christmas Love
by Corinne Everett
Summary: Christmas season has come about, and Tino is as busy as every year. Silly little romance sturfs and fluff and cookies and lots of snowy love. c: Rated T for implied adult themes.


The holidays were always the busiest time of the year, no matter where you were. All most any country was teaming with little kids headed to the mall with their parents to visit 'Santa Claus' and ask him for more toys they didn't need. Little mailboxes for Christmas lists were set up in front of nearly every store, and parents gladly took their children there to shut them up for a while. Christmas trees could be seen blinking at night through windows facing the street. Insane decorations covered the most festive homes, blinding drivers who turned a corner without expecting it. Typical Christmas songs blared out of the most cheerful(and dreary) shops, driving many people on the street insane when they passed.

There would be about a billion letters every day. The postman didn't even try to stuff the letters into the mailbox, and just filled a sack with them and left them at the door. There were trillions of people on this planet, and all of them wanted something crazy. "World peace" was written on several billion of the letters, being pretty much a useless thing to ask for. Night and day passed reading through the letters, allowing no sleep in between. It wasn't just the busiest time for parents and businesses, it was the busiest time for one person in specific. Tino Väinämöinen. All the letters that went into the boxes, and the spoken requests from little kids sitting on fake Santas' laps came to him. It was all recorded, all done in a methodical manner in which to make it easier for him and get the load off his shoulders. It never did, because sometimes one kid would sneak in multiple lists in hopes of tricking him into giving them more than they really needed. It was best not to get Tino started on what Peter's list looked like. It was so long, he stapled multiple papers together. Tino was cracking under the stress, but knew that on Christmas day he would be as jolly as all the legends said Santa was supposed to be. He just had to get through the stupid laboring every year to make everyone else happy.

Tino sucked in a breath of warm air and shut the post office's door behind him quickly. "Tino! How's our little Santa doing today?" Tino smiled up at the manager, getting a lot of stares from the people trying to mail their packages to family and friends around the country, maybe even the world. "Has the season been treating you well? How many letters fill the house now? They're probably flowing out the windows as we speak!" The manager had always been a very cheerful man, and every year he tried his best to keep Tino's mood up for the holidays.

"Well, heh, I'm running on about an hour of sleep, Berwald has been doing the cooking lately instead, Peter has the longest and most unreasonable Christmas list ever, and everyone thinks I'm magic and can create world peace. The usual, I suppose, really. I probably have somewhere around five-hundred billion letters to sort through as well as the recordings Alfred has been sending me from shopping centres in his country. It's a lot of work for one guy, you know." The manager nodded, leaning on the counter. He acted like he understood, even though he only received about a thousand letters a day, and none of them were for him.

"I have about a thousand more letters to give to you now, so just bear with me, my friend. I wish you luck with everything, and I expect you to smile more. And get some sleep." The bag was handed over the counter, and Tino sighed in exhaustion. He probably would only get half an hour of sleep now, considering there was more being loaded onto him every time he went out. As he headed out the door back into the cold, he heard a little boy comment. "Mama, that doesn't look like Santa! Where's his beard, and his big round tummy?" The mother had the best response to her son's question, which got the perfect smile on Tino's face. "Sweetheart, Santa isn't actually old and chubby. He's skinny and young. But don't think that means he doesn't like cookies."

**~V~**

"Mama, do you really know when everyone is sleeping or awake? Do you have secret spy cameras in everyone's houses? Is there one in my room?" Tino's head fell down onto the table, and he didn't even care about the pain. He saw Peter jump from the corner of his eye, but just stayed there. "M-Mama? What are you doing?"

"Peter. I haven't slept in a week. Can you find something else to do other than ask me all these questions? I'm waiting for everything I had to order to arrive, the Santa sack is on the porch so they can just put them there and not bother me, and now you just have to let me sleep, okay?" Great. Now he was rambling about things that didn't even matter. Was he really that tired that he couldn't even keep his mind to saying one thing of importance?

Peter stood up and left the room, looking kind of sad. Even though Tino felt bad, he didn't feel bad enough to apologize to Peter. He would do that later. Right now, he would sleep. He felt as if he had just drifted off when someone walked into the room and woke him up. His head went up to look and see Berwald. The clock told him he had been sleeping for ten minutes. It certainly didn't feel like that.

"'M s'rry...did I wake ya?" Berwald's expression was as blank as always, but there was a bit of an apologetic tone in his voice. "I d'dn't mean t'. I w's jus' going t' get s'mething to eat..."

"No, no, it's fine. I shouldn't be sleeping here in the first place. I have a hundred and sixty-eight hours worth of sleep to catch up on. You should probably help me with that." Tino managed a tired laugh before standing up and heading for their bedroom. "If you need me, Berwald, I'll be sleeping, and hopefully sleeping well. Wake me for dinner, whenever it's ready, please. I just can't seem to do anything with this amount of energy." Berwald mumbled a little okay in response, and Tino left the room. All he needed was the warm blankets and a pillow and he would probably be out like a light. Sure enough, the second he was in bed, he was unconscious.

**~V~**

"I don't know when I'll be back, but hopefully there won't be any huge weather disasters anywhere, so I should be back in no time. Make sure Peter stays in bed and actually sleeps. I don't want him up and about when I get back, because he still needs his sleep. And don't stand outside in the cold all night like last time waiting for me. You'll surely get sick if you do that again." Tino went on his tip-toes and kissed Berwald lightly before climbing into the sled and preparing himself for the trip. "I'll try to be back soon. I love you!" Tino smiled, then sent the reindeer—those insane, flying reindeer—dashing through the snowy night air. Lights flashed at him everywhere he went, some new LED ones on certain houses making him feel blind for a few moments. He generally stashed the cookies he got from the houses into a little plastic Ziploc bag, making sure to save them for later.

Hours passed, but everywhere was technically the same time when he reached them. He could already see that Alfred was cheating again this year and staying up. He supposed he would cheat, too, and left Alfred's presents on his doorstep. He would find them later that morning, surely.

Finally, the last rounds. He was returning home, and finally entered a little house off on the countryside. A little cross sat above the fireplace, and Tino smiled upon seeing it. He set the presents down under the tree, then turned to see the little platter of cookies—and a note. The cookies carefully went into the plastic bag, and he unfolded the note.

_Dear Mr. Santa,_

_ I'm sorry I said mean things about you when I was with Mama at the mail place. They teach us on tee-vee and at the market that you are a jolly fat man with a white beard. I won't listen to the bad people ever again, and I helped Mama make those cookies. Mine were the little ones with the trees on them. Thank you for the presents._

_ From,_

_ Jeremiah._

Tino smiled and looked around. There was a little pad of paper up ahead, and he grabbed it. Whipping a pen up from next to it, he scribbled out his own little note for Jeremiah. He smiled after proof-reading in, folded it nicely, and set it on the plate that was for the cookies. Hopefully, the little boy would enjoy his presents _and_ personal note. He shimmied his way back up the chimney and waited a while on the roof.

It was about 2:30 AM now, and Berwald was probably standing outside waiting, even though Tino had asked him not to. It appeared to have been snowing steadily here, and he could see the single light on a few miles away. A smile touched the corners of his mouth, and he set off to his home in the distance.

When he was finally close enough, Tino looked down. Berwald was looking up at him. And _smiling_. Tino smiled broadly and leaned a bit more to the side, wishing he could reach Berwald right now. He leaned more, then it happened. His balance was lost, and he started falling. He let out a little shocked scream—a very short one that last merely a second—and fell down towards the ground. He covered his eyes, not wanting to see his own doom. Instead of meeting hard ground and snow, he met something warm before falling the slightest bit more. He moved his hands away and looked around, then turned his head to the left and looked down. Berwald was laying in the snow, his arms holding Tino in the position of which he caught him. He was laughing, his mouth upturned in the most beautiful smile Tino had ever seen. It was rare for Berwald to smile, but whenever he did, it took Tino's breath away for a moment. Soon, he was laughing along.

They stayed on the ground in the snow for a few minutes, just laughing about what had happened only moments ago. The reindeer were used to getting themselves back to where they belong, but Tino would still have to take off the reins and such. That could wait for now. Time passed, and their laughter died off. Tino got out of Berwald's arms and lay in front of him instead. They stared at each other, looking into one another's eyes. Tino moved first and kissed Berwald lightly, holding there for a moment. When he pulled away, Berwald shivered.

"Tino...jag älskar dig. Evigt." Berwald only seemed to ever speak clearly if he spoke his own language, and Tino was glad he could understand the few phrases regularly spoken. He leaned in again and kissed Berwald a bit more passionately, not wanting to pull away now. Berwald seemed to agree with that idea, pulling Tino closer. Who cared if it was negative five degrees outside and giving them little snow blankets? They had each other, and right now that was the only thing either one cared about. Their mini make-out session lasted not much longer, and when they pulled away from one another, they still couldn't will their bodies to move.

"Minäkin rakastan sinua, Berwald. Ikuisesti."

**~V~**

Later that morning was insane. Peter was jumping up and down on their bed, trying to get them up. He had apparently slept all night, and now had the most energy inside of him in his entire life. Tino had the messiest hair, and Berwald seemed rather satisfied with himself. Tino would get him back for this later, that was for sure. He had plenty of plans to get him back for what had happened.

Peter had been thrilled over every present he got, and was even more thrilled when he got to eat cookies from breakfast. The rest of the day passed in peaceful silence. With the Christmas worries behind him, Tino cuddled himself up against Berwald in front of their fireplace. What had happened early that morning would stay their little secret, and would probably never leak out to anyone until pigs learned to pull sleds instead.

_**~~The End~~**_

_Dear Jeremiah,_

_ I really appreciate your letter! I wasn't mad about you thinking I was old and fat, because everyone does. Thank you for the cookies, I kept them all to myself and I'm not letting anyone else eat them. I have a son about your age, and I know he's want to steal those lovely cookies you made. Tell __your mama thank you for me,and remember that there's a special present hiding for her under the tree. Don't tell her, though, this is our little secret! I got her just what you told me she wanted, and the tag should say your name on it as well as mine. If you ever see me at the post office again, don't be afraid to say hi. It's always nice to see someone I've made happy! _

_Your friend,_

_ Santa_


End file.
